Tag: haemostasis

Of late, I have needed to re-emphasize the difference between absolute and relative growth in medtech markets (and its importance). So, here it is again, this time regarding surgical sealants and other wound closure products.

The lowest relative rate of growth in this industry is the well-established sutures and staples segment. Sales of these products globally, even supported by innovations in bioresorbables and laparoscopic delivery technologies, are only growing at a 5.6% compound annual growth rate from 2013 to 2018. By comparison, growth of sales of surgical glues and sealants is at 9.4% for 2013-2018.

But from an absolute sales growth point of view, sales of sutures and staples will go from $5.2 billion to $6.9 billion, or absolute growth of $1.7 billion. Simultaneously, the relatively high growth in surgical glues and sealants translates to the absolute growth from 2013 to 2018 of only $0.9 billion.

Sealants, glues, hemostats, and other products in wound closure and securement offer benefits that vary by clinical area, but the nature of that benefit also varies by the type of end-point (benefit) the product achieves — does it provide a life-saving benefit? A time-saving? Cost-savings? A cosmetic or aesthetic benefit?

Accordingly, by examining the volume of procedures for which closure and securement products provide which kind of benefit is crucial to understanding demand, especially between competitive products.

Below is a categorization of benefits ranging from the critical (I) to the aesthetic (IV).

Criteria for Adjunctive Use of Hemostats, Sealants, Glues and Adhesion Prevention Products in Surgery

Wounds may be classified according to their depth and whether underlying tissues are damaged. Partial-thickness wounds do not intrude through the dermis and can heal by regeneration; full-thickness wounds involve both the epidermis and dermis, and sometimes underlying tissues as well. They generally heal by scar formation. Wound classification by morphology is shown below:

Type

Tissue Characteristics

Etiology

Prognosis for Healing

Partial thickness

Involves entire epidermis and portions of dermis.

Friction, pressure, small cuts, minor burns.

Heal within 10-18 days, epidermal element germinates and migrates up to the epithelial layer. Heals without significant scarring or functional impairment.

Deep partial thickness

Involves entire epidermis and almost entire dermis.

Friction, cuts, significant burns.

Healing within 20-35 days.

Full thickness

Involves epidermis and dermis; may extend into subcutaneous tissue. Sweat glands and hair follicles are destroyed.

The global market for surgical sealants, glues, hemostats, vascular closure devices, sutures/staples, and tapes is the subject of Report #S192.

See also the October 2015 report, “Worldwide Wound Management, Forecast to 2024:Established and Emerging Products, Technologies and Marketsin the Americas, Europe, Asia/Pacific and Rest of World”, Report #S251.

Sealants and glues also are emerging as important adjunctive tools for sealing staple and suture lines, and some of these products also are being employed as general hemostatic agents to control bleeding in the surgical field. Manufacturers have also developed surgical sealants and glues that are designed for specific procedures – particularly those in which staples and sutures are difficult to employ or where additional reinforcement of the internal suture/staple line provides an important safety advantage.

Surgical sealants are made of synthetic or naturally occurring materials and are commonly used with staples or sutures to help completely seal internal and external incisions after surgery. In this capacity, they are particularly important for lung, spinal, and gastrointestinal operations, where leaks of air, cerebrospinal fluid, or blood through the anastomosis can cause numerous complications. Limiting these leaks results in reduced mortality rates, less post-operative pain, shorter hospital stays for patients, and decreased health care costs.

Although some form of suturing wounds has been used for thousands of years, sutures and staples can be troublesome. There are procedures in which sutures are too large or clumsy to place effectively, and locations in which it is difficult for the surgeon to suture. Moreover, sutures can lead to complications, such as intimal hyperplasia, in which cells respond to the trauma of the needle and thread by proliferating on the inside wall of the blood vessel, causing it to narrow at that point. This increases the risk of a blood clot forming and obstructing blood flow. In addition, sutures and staples may trigger an immune response, leading to inflamed tissue that also increases the risk of a blockage. Finally, as mentioned above, sutured and stapled internal incisions may leak, leading to dangerous post-surgical complications.

These are some of the reasons why surgical adhesives are becoming increasingly popular, both for use in conjunction with suture and staples and on a stand-alone basis. As a logical derivative, surgeons want a sealant product that is strong, easy-to-use and affordable, while being biocompatible and resorbable. In reality, it is difficult for manufacturers to meet all of these requirements, particularly with biologically active sealants, which tend to be pricey. Thus, for physicians, there is usually a trade-off to consider when deciding whether or not to employ these products.

Surgical sealants, glues, and hemostats can be divided into several different categories based on their primary components and/or their intended use. For the purposes of this analysis, the market is broken down by composition into products containing biologically active agents, products made from natural and synthetic (nonactive) components, and nonactive scaffolds, patches, sponges, putties, powders, and matrices used as surgical hemostats. The market for sealants, glues, and hemostats, while largely controlled by J&J/Ethicon and Baxter, nonetheless has many active players, many of whom have demonstrated staying power (and growing share) in the global market.

Below is illustrated the manufacturers in bioactive products, non-active natural or synthetic agents, and non-active materials.

Source: MedMarket Diligence, LLC; Report #S192. (Note: This report has been superceded by the August 2016 Report #S290.)

Medtech manufacturers interested in “growth” markets need to consider the relative versus absolute. Nascent markets can growth from $1 million sales in year 1 to $2 million in year 2, obviously a 100% increase. But in multi-billion markets, a $1 million increase will elicit a yawn from all but the smallest manufacturers.

Just as an exercise, I ranked the growth rates for sales of wound closure products detailed in our Report #S192 by both the absolute sales growth from 2014 to 2018 and the compound annual growth rate over this period. To reveal the differences even further, I ranked all combinations of geographic area and wound closure product type. Partial results — just the top growth rankings, since the list is too long to show all — are shown side by side below (click on the chart to see a more legible version).

The simple practice of closing wounds is not so simple, driven as it is by the fact that wounds can be the conduit for blood, infectious agents and every other liquid, gas or solid that should not enter or exit the wound. The closure has to be readily accomplished, regardless of where the wound exists. The closure should not only prevent blood from being lost but ideally should actively stop the bleeding. The wound must stay closed despite the pressures exerted upon it. The closure should also have a minimal “footprint”, with the closure components being easily removed, absorbed or otherwise leaving the least possible trace of the closure, including scar tissue.

Hence, tapes, staples, sutures, clips, hemostatic agents, sealants, glues and other devices have been developed to get the job done. The market for this range of closure options now reflects biologics, absorbable materials, devices and other products. Fundamentally, the market remains largely dominated by sutures and staples/clips, which have satisfied the demands of internal/external closure, easy of use, low cost, strength of closure and other considerations, not least of which is the evolving nature of surgical practice from the “open” to endo/laparoscopic. Nonetheless, tighter wound sealing, less bleeding and better outcomes in general have driven manufacturers to develop improvements.

Below is illustrated the 2014 market for the range of wound closure products along with their associated growth rates. The prospects for medical/surgical tapes are the exception to the rule, demonstrating a steady decline while better alternatives demonstrate steady growth.

Acute wounds have long represented a core focus of healthcare, one that manufacturers have been steadily changing through innovative new technologies. MedMarket Diligence‘s global report on wound closure markets reveals the dynamics of this change, detailing the clinical practices, products, technologies, companies and the resulting current and forecast markets.

PRLog – April 7, 2015 – MISSION VIEJO, Calif. — The products and technologies focused on the management of acute wounds, encompassing hemostasis, closure and sealing represent a significant, growing segment of the total medical device market. The global market for surgical sealants, glues, and wound closure devices reached over $10.8 billion in 2014 and is forecast to increase to about $14 billion in 2018, exhibiting an overall compound annual growth rate (2014-2018) of 7.0%, according to the latest global report on wound closure and related products, published by MedMarket Diligence.

“We have tracked this market as manufacturers introduced novel wound sealing and closure technologies intended to integrate with one of the highest volume areas of healthcare,” says Patrick Driscoll, President of MedMarket Diligence. According to Driscoll, the level of innovation has been remarkable — from the advent of fibrin glues, to the continued evolution of sutures and staples, to the emergence of products working alone or in tandem to achieve better outcomes in a cost sensitive climate.This market is comprised of sutures/staples, vascular closure devices, surgical tapes, surgical hemostats, and surgical sealants and glues. There are well over 100 companies active in the marketing and development of these products, with the associated technologies running the gamut from devices to biologics to synthetics.

Wound closure has become a clinical practice that is rapidly evolving from what was once simple suturing or taping wounds to more sophisticated procedures that ensure rapid cessation of blood loss, prompt closure, strong adhesion of wound edges, tight sealing, reduced scarring, reduced risk of infection and more rapid healing — all accomplished largely with existing surgeon skills and with reasonable costs for healthcare payers and margins for manufacturers.

Surgical sealants and glues are expected to demonstrate the highest growth rate over the forecast period, but the largest segment in terms of revenues is the sutures and staples market, which comprise about half of the worldwide total. Hemostats represent the next largest segment, followed by surgical sealants and glues, tapes, and vascular closure devices.

The market leaders in this area are Johnson & Johnson, Covidien, B. Braun, and 3M, but market shares have proven to be fluid as innovations from hundreds of competitors are gaining and expanding footholds in the big companies’ territories.

The MedMarket Diligence report, “Worldwide Surgical Sealants, Glues, and Wound Closure Markets, 2013-2018“, provides specific forecasts and shares of the worldwide market by segment for Americas (detail for U.S., Rest of North America and Latin America), Europe (detail for United Kingdom, German, France, Italy, Spain, Rest of Europe), Asia/Pacific (detail for Japan, Korea, Rest of Asia/Pacific) and Rest of World.

The report also provides background data on the surgical, disease and traumatic wound patient populations targeted by current technologies and those under development, and the current clinical practices in the management of these patients, including the dynamics among the various clinical specialties or subspecialties vying for patient population and facilitating or limiting the growth of technologies.

The report establishes the current worldwide market size for major technology segments as a baseline for and projecting growth in the market through 2018. The report also assesses and projects the composition of the market as technologies gain or lose relative market performance over this period.

The report profiles the top companies by revenue and a reasonable selection of the most promising or otherwise noteworthy companies in the markets covered in this report, providing data on their current products, current market position and products under development.

Biologically active sealants typically contain various formulations of fibrin and/or thrombin, either of human or animal origin, which mimic or facilitate the final stages of the coagulation cascade. The most common consist of a liquid fibrin sealant product in which fibrinogen and thrombin are stored separately as a frozen liquid or lyophilized powder. Before use, both components need to be reconstituted or thawed and loaded into a two-compartment applicator device that allows mixing of the two components just prior to delivery to the wound. Because of the laborious preparation process, these products are not easy to use. However, manufacturers have been developing some new formulations designed to make the process more user friendly.

Selected Biologically Active Sealants, Glues, and Hemostats

Company

Product Name

Description/
(Status*)

Asahi Kasei Medical

CryoSeal FS System

Fibrin sealant system comprising an automated device and sterile blood processing disposables that enable autologous fibrin sealant to be prepared from a patient's own blood plasma in about an hour.

Baxter

Artiss

Fibrin sealant spray

Baxter

Tisseel

Biodegradable fibrin sealant made of human fibrinogen and human thrombin. For oozing and diffuse bleeding.

Evicel is a new formulation of the previously available fibrin sealant Quixil (EU)/Crosseal (US). Does not contain the antifibrinolytic agent tranexamic acid, which is potentially neurotoxic, nor does it contain synthetic or bovine aprotinin, which reduces potential for hypersensitivity reactions.

J&J/Ethicon

Evarrest

Absorbable fibrin sealant patch comprised of flexible matrix of oxidized, regenerated cellulose backing under a layer of polyglactin 910 non-woven fibers and coated on one side with human fibrinogen and thrombin.

Company is working with Chemo-Sero-Therapeutic Research Institute (KAKETSUKEN) to develop a sheet-type surgical fibrin sealant. Product combines KAKETSUKEN's recombinant thrombin and fibrinogen technology with Teijin's high-performance fiber technology to create the world's first recombinant fibrin sealant on a bioabsorbable, flexible, nonwoven electrospun fiber sheet.

The Medicines Company (TMC)

Raplixa (formerly Fibrocaps)

Sprayable dry-powder formulation of fibrinogen and thrombin to aid in hemostasis during surgery to control mild or moderate bleeding.

The Medicines Company (TMC)

In development: Fibropad patch

FDA accepted company's BLA application for Fibrocaps in April 2014 and set an action date (PDUFA) in 2015. In November 2013, the European Medicines Agency agreed to review the firm's EU marketing authorization application. Status update in report #S192.

Vascular Solutions

D-Stat Flowable

Thick, but flowable, thrombin-based mixture to prevent bleeding in the subcutaneous pectoral pockets created during pacemaker and ICD implantations.

Fibrin sealants represent a revolution in local hemostatic measures for both bleeding and nonbleeding disorders. Tourniquet, pressure and sutures have been used for controlling excessive bleeding during surgical procedures for hundreds of years. Fibrin sealant has the potential to provide life-saving control of excessive bleeding in many critical surgical operations and during a number of elective procedures. It is used for local hemostasis and as an augmenting material during arterial bleeding. It has been applied to every organ except eyeballs. It has been shown to be very useful for local hemostasis, a valuable tool for adhesion, sealing, anastomosis, vascular and nerve grafts, and many other procedures.

The challenges to even more widespread adoption of fibrin and other sealants are fading as formulations and delivery methods have been aggressively developed by manufacturers to meet the demand, but opportunities remain, including providing better tensile strength, ease of delivery, better cost and others.

The worldwide market for fibrin and other sealants stands at $2 billion (see link).